report on the sourvey questionnaires on science

Erasmus+ Let the science discover usProject Number: 2016-1-TR01-KA219-034235

Project Manager: Prof. Roberto Abenante

Team Group: Prof. Lucia Bellacci, Prof. Lorenzo Pierazzi

Relator: Eng. Clio Mugnai

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Presentation Outline

Eng. Clio Mugnai – Let the science discover us

Barcelona, 1st December 2016

Submitted Questionnaires:

• Students (4 + 1 questionnaries)• Parents (2 questionnaries) • Teachers (2 questionnaries)

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Students’ Questionnaries


• Science Literacy Q.• Science Teaching Methods Q.• IT Usage Q.• Students’ learning difficulties

• Students’ knowledge and expectations about the Erasmus+ programme (students from the 2nd and 3rd class, 6 are males and 4 females)

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• Science Literacy Q.• Science Teaching Methods Q.• IT Usage Q.• Students’ learning difficulties

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Paper questionnaires, computers, mobile phones and whiteboards.The students who filled the questionnaires are 130, from the 1st to the 5th class. More than 50% of them are male students. Their age ranges from 14 to 19. They live in San Giovanni Valdarno or in the nearby towns.




Aim of the survey

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• Find out what students know about the fundamental principles of Science and Research

• How scientific subjects are taught in their school• How new technologies are used in the Science classroom• Finding out more about the difficulties that students

encounter at school or at home in the various subjects.




Science Literacy Q.

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• The students are aware of the fact that scientific theories can change.

• They recognize the importance of research, observation and experiments.

• The 50% of them believes in the role of imagination in scientific research.

• The majority of them believe in the usefulness of teaching theories at school.

• A vast majority would not be able to explain a scientific fact (e.g. global warming) by using scientific language.




Science Teaching Methods Q. (1/2)

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• The most common method used by teacher in Science lessons is the traditional one where the teaching is done by the teacher (30% always, 25% usually), but data seem to suggest, however, that the lesson is carried out in an interactive way, where asking questions and providing the answers is common practice.

• Discussion about the contents of the course is given an important role.




Science Teaching Methods Q. (2/2)

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• Projects are a common practice.• (Similarly) problem-solving is frequently used.• (Surprisingly) experiments in the laboratories and

observation of natural phenomena are rarely conducted and the same appears to be true for trips outside the classroom.

• The role-play technique is hardly ever used in the Science lesson.




IT Usage Q. (1/2)

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• Although the majority of the students recognizes the importance of IT usage and affirms that it increases motivation, effectiveness and speed of learning and quality of teaching, there is a considerable number of them who still does not agree completely with the importance of IT usage and is unsure about its potential.




IT Usage Q. (2/2)

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• 50% of the students finds the activities in the laboratory productive and attractive and their interest is good. They believe that using these tools is useful, however there is still a high number of them who can’t tell whether technologies increase their success at school. 25% of the students don’t use the laboratory very often and the same percentage believes that technologies in the lab may even distract them.




Students’ Learning Difficulties Q. (1/3)

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• The most difficult subjects are: foreign languages (English, French, German), Maths, History, Chemistry, Business Economics and Political Economics.

• Many students generally attribute their school difficulties to

teachers and claim that:• The teacher’s method is not effective (55%)• Teachers are boring and repetitive (48%)• Teachers give too many tests in one day (51%)• Teachers are absent for long periods of time (46%)





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• A high percentage of them, however, attribute their failures at school to themselves and maintain that:• Anxiety or other emotional reasons before the test

influence their performance (40%)• They lack of motivation and commitment (32%)• They have not developed an effective learning method

(33%)• They lack of basic notions and knowledge (27%)• They don’t like the school (25%)





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• A high percentage of them, however, attribute their failures at school to themselves and maintain that:• They don’t dare ask their teacher for further explanation

(21%)• They don’t study in the afternoon and prefer spending

their free time out (23%)• They get discouraged when they get bad marks (20%)• Some attribute their difficulties to health and eating and

other kinds of psychological problems.




Students’ knowledge and expectations about the Erasmus+ programme Q. (1/2)

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• The majority was informed about the project “Let the science discover us” and the Erasmus+ programme, although they have never taken part in these programmes.

• Most of them are able to communicate in a foreign language (intermediate level) and feel confident in their linguistic competence.

• They like team work and they have good team work skills.






Students’ knowledge and expectations about the Erasmus+ programme Q. (2/2)

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• By participating in the first phase of the project, students say that they liked using English and technologies to fill in the questionnaires and being part of an European project.

• In the future, they expect to: learn about new countries and people, improve their communication skills, improve their English and Science knowledge, do an important life experience.

Parents’ Questionnaries

Aim of the survey

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• Find out what parents know about the fundamental principles of Science and Research, how scientific subjects are taught in their children’s school, how new technologies are used in the Science classroom.

Only 23 people answered. Their age ranged from 38 to 51. The majority were women. Fifty per cent of them were high school graduates, 35% had only attended middle school, 15% had attended university and got a degree.




Science Literacy Q.

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• Parents are aware of the fact that scientific theories can change.

• They recognize the importance of research, observation and experiments.

• 50% of them believes in the role of imagination in scientific research.

• The majority of them believes in the usefulness of teaching theories at school.

• A vast majority would not be able to explain a scientific fact (e.g. global warming) by using scientific language




IT Usage Q. (1/2)

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• Although the majority of the parents recognizes the importance of IT usage and affirms it increases motivation, effectiveness and speed of learning and quality of teaching, there is a number of them who still does not agree completely with the importance of IT usage and is unsure about its potential




IT Usage Q. (2/2)

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• The majority thinks that the activities in the laboratory are productive and attractive for their children. Parents believe that using these tools is useful, however there is still a high number of them who can’t tell whether technologies increase their children’s success at school. Parents say that the students don’t often use the laboratory. They don’t agree with their children that technology may distract the attention.



Teachers’ Questionnaries

Aim of the survey

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• Find out what teachers know about Scientific Research and how new technologies are used in their school and lessons.

Sixteen teachers of scientific subjects (Physics, Electronics, Maths, IT, Science, Chemistry, Business Economics) were asked to fill in their questionnaires online. Their age ranged from 36 to 60. The majority were women (70%). Of course, all of them had a university degree and 12% had also a PhD. They were all teaching in the secondary high school, and their teaching experience ranged from 5 to 35 years.




IT Usage and Science Literacy Q. (1/2)

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• 50% of the teachers uses IT tools in their classroom; only 6% rarely does it.

• 50% believes that the technological tools provided by their school are not enough.

• 80% have attended teaching training courses about the implementation of IT tools; what they learnt was relevant and useful for their jobs.




IT Usage and Science Literacy Q. (2/2)

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• Every teacher has a PC or a digital device. Almost all of them have a PC/laptop/tablet; 60% has a smartphone.

• 60% spends from 1 to 2 hours online; the rest spends from 3 to more hours online a day.

• 50% uses the lab and they do it from twice a month to 5 times a month; they use it mainly for simulations (70%) and experiments (44%).




Science and its role Q.

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• Science means “using new knowledge to make the world a better place” (78%), “learning about the unknown phenomena” (61%), “carrying out experiments to solve a problem” (39%).

• Teachers believe in effectiveness of the scientific method, but they are aware of the fact that many discoveries are made by accident.

• They all believe that science knowledge is not fixed and it’s subject to change.



Erasmus+ Let the science discover usProject Number: 2016-1-TR01-KA219-034235

Project Manager: Prof. Roberto Abenante

Team Group: Prof. Lucia Bellacci, Prof. Lorenzo Pierazzi

Relator: Eng. Clio Mugnai

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report on the sourvey questionnaires on science

Education